After frantically rushing to finish A Dance with Dragons, so I would have more time to other things, I concluded that book on Tuesday night. Then on Wednesday morning, I immediately began The Hunger Games, which I finished in less than a day and then last night I began reading the second one in the series, Catching Fire. Generally, when I know Jon will be gone for while, I find myself reading a lot (probably to stop feeling lonely.) I know that it’s definitely a bad thing to escape into a book when you’re unhappy or lonely, but it’s a hell of a lot better than escaping into a bottle of whiskey or wine. If escapist reading is my major vice than I’ll gladly take it. I thought I’d write a review of each book before I disappear back into Catching Fire.
A Dance with Dragons, was regrettably not as good as the first four of the series. I really looked forward to it and I have to say I was disappointed. The way George R.R. Martin arranged the fourth and fifth books was so they followed the two different sets of characters during the same time period. His messing with the chronological order kinda ruined the books for me. I struggled to remember and place what was happening in reference to the fourth book. I missed the characters from the other book while I read and overall it was less enjoyable. That’s not to say it wasn’t good or even great. It was. It just was less so than it would’ve been. I enjoyed some of the new characters, I loved hating others, and genuinely just didn’t like some. It was good, but I wouldn’t go shouting praise from the rooftops. I may also be slightly bitter that one of my favorite characters got killed off. That shouldn’t be too much a spoiler because I have like 10 favorite characters and a lot of people die in these books.
On a much higher note, The Hunger Games, was amazingly good. It may be considered ”teen fiction,” but I really want to shout my praises for it from the rooftop. It is interesting, fast paced, and sometimes shocking. From the moment I started reading it I could not put it down. If you like anything suspenseful, you’d love this book. The best part, it’s currently being made into a movie! It is written from the point of view of Katniss who ends up in The Hunger Games, a fight-to-the-death competition organized by the twisted government of Panem a dystopian society of the future in what was formerly known as North America. This book was better than I expected, and I was expecting it to be good. Do yourself a favor, read it! I promise you won’t regret it.

Also,if anyone has this EW from months ago, and wouldn’t mind sending it to me, I’d love you forever!
Have you read either of these books or anything else really good lately? Do you use books as a way to escape?
<3 Frank
Bunches of my friends are talking about this book – I guess I have to read it! Also, this week’s EW is Hunger Games-related too!
i LOVE hunger games! lets go see the movie!
Loved Hunger Games SO much more than I thought I would too! I still haven’t started the 3rd book yet because I whip through them so quickly and I know I’m going to be sad when it’s all over.
Another friend who liked HG recommended Veronica Roth’s “Divergent.” I might have to pick that up once I’m done with the HG series so I have something else to get sucked into!
I was sad when I finished the third one, but I was really sucked in ( I read all three in as many days). When I finished them, I read “The Cookbook Collector” which was really, really good. It took me a week and half after I finished that to start my next book (“The Book Theif”), because I enjoyed that one so much. Let me know when you’ve read “Mocking Jay” so we can discuss!
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